


Never-Ending

by the_brat_prince



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 00:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19897045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_brat_prince/pseuds/the_brat_prince
Summary: "I don't want to grow up," she says, and Ash realizes he doesn't either. Reflective piece. Fluff. Childhood romance. May become a series, who knows!





	Never-Ending

**Author's Note:**

> I got the chance to meet Veronica Taylor last year. I happily told her the story about how, when I was 12, I was in love with Ash Ketchum, and made an OC for him. I ended up drawing a picture of them together as if hey were getting married, and she thought it was the cutest thing in the world and happily signed in what she felt Ash's handwriting would be like if he wrote a love confession, and it was A M A Z I N G. This is the one-shot of that character and how they meet. Kudos appreciated, and thank you!

“We all have to grow up one day.” And the young girl of ten, Rene, sitting at the edge of the river with her brown legs pulled up to her chin as she stared up at Ash Ketchum with soft eyes. Her chocolate brown hair, long and in a thick lazy braid, trailed along the grass towards him. “That’s what I was told. I don’t want to, though.” A pause. “...Do you ever feel that way?”

Ash, who had been considering a place to set up camp for the night, had only moments before halted in his tracks. That was a strange thing for someone to open up with… but it was his fault, right? The pretty girl in the red shirt and denim overalls has caught him staring. He realized he was being weird… just… staring at her. But she’d caught his eye. Pikachu, who had been sitting on his shoulder, had said nothing, watching her quietly.

Ash struggled for an answer. He’d lost his tongue. “Uh, um… I guess I… never thought about it.” And he hadn’t. He shifted back and forth on his feet, adjusting the strap of his backpack. “Um, I’m Ash! Ash Ketchum.” He might as well introduce himself!

“Rene,” Was the reply, and the dark-skinned girl look away from him, and out to the water. A couple of Goldeen splashed through, heading upstream. “Are you a Pokemon trainer?”

Finally, a subject he could talk about. “Uh, yeah! I’m traveling around so I can be a Pokemon Master!”

“Oh.” And Rene’s fingers skimmed across the grassy floor. She picked u a stone, tossing it idly into the water. It didn’t skip, just splashed with a deep ploop and sank to the bottom. “So you’re _that_ Ash.”

Oof. Was that good? Or bad? He tried not to sport a wince. “Uh, I guess?”

Rene glanced over at him. “It’s…” She straightened up a bit, her legs relaxing, no longer at her chin, but still bent at the knee. There was a bandage on one. She smiled to him. It was warm. “It’s a good thing. You’re pretty cool. I hear you have really awesome Pokemon.”

“Yeah!” Nerves dispelled, Ash approached the girl, his own smile appearing. “I’ve collected a whole bunch! They change a lot, but I always keep around Pikachu!”

Pikachu, who had been addressed, finally made a noise. “Pikaaaa.” He sounded curious. Ash paused beside Rene. He noticed she had a small pink travel bag beside her. 

“Are you traveling, too?”

“I’m always traveling,” was the response. Ash slowly took a seat beside her. Resting sounded like a good idea… and this area seemed pretty good for camping. 

“Do you have any Pokemon?” Ash asked her.

Rene shook her head.

“Huh? Really? Why not?”

Rene let out a hum. “Mmm… I like Pokemon, but I don’t think I would know how to take care of them well. And I don’t like fighting with them.” She realized what she said and continued, “I don’t think it’s bad or anything. I think it’s cool to watch other people battle.” And she rested her arms over her knees, tilting her head at him to give him a coy smile. “I bet a _cute boy_ like you is really good at it.”

Ash felt his face and ears turning pink as Rene giggled beside him. Pikachu made a snickering noise that had Ash shrugging the Pokemon off of his shoulder. Pikachu weaved between Ash’s legs to go over to the new girl, curiously sniffing her as his trainer spoke. “Uh, well, _I think_ I’m pretty good. Not the best though. _Yet.”_ He tacked on at the end.

“Yet?”

“Yet.”

Rene looked down at Pikachu. She slowly held out her hand. Pikachu sniffed at her again. She looked back to Ash. “Where are you headed to now?”

“Uh… not sure. I’ll know when I make it there! I’m on a whole new adventure!” Ash pointed up towards the sky. “The road leads me, I just follow!”

“Sounds fun. I bet you always find neat Pokemon and interesting people.” Pikachu finally hopped into Rene’s lap, and the girl slowly pet him. “I really like your Pikachu. He’s cute.”

“He’s okay.” Pikachu shot Ash a dirty look. The boy looked towards the water. He was silent for a moment. “Um… are you okay? You looked… kinda sad.”

Rene took in a deep breath. She looked towards the water as well, her hand still stroking Pikachu’s fur. Ash let her stew in silence for a bit. Sometimes… silence was necessary, right? It was kind of nice. He had just parted with some friends… and he was sure he would meet more…

Rene looked back to him. The two caught each other’s gaze. She smiled, but it was weak this time.

“I don’t want to grow up,” She said. “But if I don’t grow up, I don’t know if I will be able to protect the things I care about most.”

Ash frowned at that. “What do you care about? Is it your mom or something?”

“No.” Rene shook her head. “Nothing like that.” She seemed to change the subject. “I bet you’ve been on TV a lot, since you’re a Pokemon trainer. You’ve been in tournaments, right?”

“Yup! Lots of them. I have a whole bunch of badges to prove it!” 

“Can I see?”

“Yeah!”

In moments, Ash had laid out a whole collection of shiny badges for Rene to gaze upon. He was happy enough to talk about each one when she asked about them, which she did. Pikachu had gotten bored listening to Ash start to brag about himself (after all, he’d been there the whole time), and went off to drink from the water in the small stream and play with sticks. Before he knew it, it was almost dark. Ash looked up at the sky.

“Oh man. I need to set up camp! I’m starving.” Ash looked to her. “Are you camping here too?”

“I was going to talk to town to sleep in a motel,” Rene admitted, “But I got distracted. I don’t have a sleeping bag or anything with me.”

Ash paused thoughtfully, and he seemed to be weighing ideas in his head. “Oh, um… you can use mine for tonight, if you want! But if you’re traveling, you should totally buy a sleeping bag just in case!”

“Is it pretty big? The sleeping bag.”

“Yeah, it’s really comfy!” He replied as he rose to his feet.

“Then we can share,” Rene stated, and Ash felt his face light up as he made a beeline to find a drier spot to lay out the bag. He didn’t respond back.

Rene made a campfire not too far away. Ash was impressed by how fast she made it. “You really do travel a lot!”

“I do. I stop and eat on the road a lot, but I’m not the best at cooking over a fire.”

“Me neither. I feel lucky if I don’t burn my food!”

Another hour passed. 

It was time for sleep. Pikachu was already passed out beside the sleeping bag on top of Ash’s backpack. Ash was dressing down for bed, taking off his hat, jacket, and shoes. He was hiding behind a tree and he switched out from his jeans to shorts, not wanting the girl to see him stripping down. When he emerged, he spotted Rene putting her clothing into her bag. She was---

Ash dove into his sleeping bag, practically spinning like a top in it to avoid looking at her. Underwear. He saw _underwear._ No, not just underwear, those were _girl panties._ He almost yelped when he felt her slide into the sleeping bag beside him. The first thing he noticed were that her legs were really soft against his. When he saw her, she was wearing a shirt and… panties. _Was it just that?!_

The two ten-year-olds stared up at the sky, towards the twinkling stars. Ash _had_ to keep his gaze up there. He was feeling loads of embarrassment. Sleeping in the same sleeping bag… with a really pretty girl. She was really, really pretty. He wondered if Rene could feel the heat coming off his face.

Rene took in a soft breath of the cool night air.

“Thank you for letting me camp with you, Ash. You’re really sweet.”

“Uh…”

“And it’s great,” Rene continued, “Because now I get to say I shared a bed with a really cute boy!”

Oh god, this was too much. He turned away a bit, his entire face red. “I-I’m not… I mean… _you’re_ the one that’s… um… r-really cute…” His voice trailed off, the last part barely a whisper. Beside him, Rene glanced over, looking at the back of his head. She slowly turned to face him. Ash could feel her knees bump against his bottom.

“I’ve never camped with anyone before.” She replied. “It’s just been me. Only me.”

That surprised him. “Really? Why?”

There was a pause. Ash waited patiently for a response… but when he didn’t get one, he added, “You don’t gotta tell me.”

Rene stared at Ash’s back. “You… didn’t answer my question.”

“...Huh?”

“From earlier.” Rene stated. “When I asked if you wanted to grow up. Do you?”

Ash seemed to consider it.

“...Nah.” Another brief pause. “Well, _maybe_ one day. But far far off. I’m not ready to be old yet!”

Rene let out a low giggle from behind him. “Me too.”

Ash didn’t know when he fell asleep. But when he woke up, there was no longer that warm presence behind him. The sun was up. Dawn had just passed moments ago. When he glanced over, he saw Rene finishing getting dressed in her overalls. She dusted off the shorts, looking to the water again. She looked over, tossing her wild braid over her shoulder, and smiled.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Ash yawned, mouth opening wide. “...Morning…”

“The town isn’t far away.” Rene said, pointing out of the woods. “Let’s go there and get breakfast.” And, if the other needed more inspiration: “I’ll pay.”

“Really?!” Ash’s eyes lit up at the promise of free food, and he started getting out of the sleeping bag. Pikachu was stretching out. “Okay! I eat a lot though.”

“That’s okay.”

Ash got dressed quickly enough, Pikachu hopping onto his shoulder as he hoisted his backpack on. He made his way over to Rene. He realized he was a couple of inches shorter than her. Why did girls grow taller so much faster? Rene tilted her head at him.

“May I ask you something, Ash?”

“Uh, sure. What is it?”

“You said you traveled a lot, to become a Pokemon Master…” She looked out towards the edge of the forest and to the road he could somewhat make out through the trees. “So I was wondering… if you wouldn’t mind… becoming my first traveling companion?”

Ash looked stunned. Rene looked to him.

“What?”

“Oh! Uh… I was… surprised. People don’t usually ask, they just kinda… follow me.”

She let out a huff of air through her nose, smiling humorously. “I bet.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re cute.”

“Ah!” Ash started walking briskly towards the path. Pikachu looked back at Rene to see if she was following. Rene took a few steps after him… but slowed down her walk, even though Ash was speeding away. She looked back towards the river, watching it begin to disappear. She looked back towards Ash, who had halted at the road. He was waiting for her.

Ash waved his hand at her.

“If you’re coming, hurry up! You promised me breakfast!” he shouted, though Ash was smiling. Rene exited the trees. She reached up, grabbing his hand. Ash blinked as she pulled it down. She laced fingers with him.

“Okay,” Rene replied, and Ash’s face turned a beet red as she gently tugged him along. “Let’s go. We have a lot of not growing up to do.”

Ash blinked a few times at her. He grinned back. “Hehe… yep! I can grow up when I become a famous Pokemon Master!”

Rene smiled as the two headed into town. Ash spoke animatedly of what kind of place they were probably going to. He didn’t let go of her hand. Rene heard his voice fading out as they walked along what was turning into a never-ending road. Never-ending. Never-ending. Never-ending…

Ash Ketchum didn’t want to grow up.

He hadn’t. He wouldn’t.

Because the Spirit of Childhood never did.

And Immortality made it so.


End file.
